((Collab Post between Aqutanama, Letter Bee, and Lucek - NOT a GM Post!))

[b][i]Flashback One, Six Months Ago: Japan[/i][/b]

Sometimes, Magitech broke down, causing unprecedented delays even in the World of Progressive Magic. This was what happened to the [i]Alfred Nobel[/i], once en route to the Philippines, but now having to make an emergency stopover in Japan, one of the centres of Magitech. There, the ship was going to be refitted and given further improvements, causing a delay.

Ascot intended to make use of said delay as best as he can. He had heard of a strange tradesman in Tokyo, a Westerner who had adopted Japanese Culture, and had ties to both the Samurai and a mysterious, emergent organization, the Twilight Fade. What was the Twilight Fade, one would ask? The Fade was a group of merchants and craftsmen who straddled the black market, but had dreams of becoming 'legitimate', and had some of the best Magitech makers in the world.

The boy was now in Akihabara, one of the world's magitech capitals, with an escort of two older MPC members, chasing down rumors of this tradesman, one...Jonathan, was it? Of course, he was not being so reckless as to ask straight for him, but rather, his questions were directed towards the kind of technology that the man seemed to specialize in, virtual reality and such. 

He was now in a shop, respectfully chatting up the person who ran it, pretending to be a person who had been given a large amount of money by his parents as a birthday gift (okay, that part was true, today was his birthday, Jan. 1st, and his parents did give him money although he didn't really need it), and was searching for a VR system (now that part was not). And, yes, Ascot knew Japanese.

An Explosion in the distance, Building aflame. He was holding a package as he fell from the building. He was wrapping something to, a parachute of some kind, it became apparent when he deployed it away from the fire and falling debris. The parachute opened and he held on for his life. He made it about fifty feet from the ground and slipped. As he fell he twisted his body and used some kind of magic to sprout a vine. His hand gripped the vine and he twisted around it slowing his decent. Strangely enough the vine didn’t break the ground but grew on top of it. 
 
Once he landed he dismissed the plant and gathered the package. He was quick to take the parachute off of the box and run away from the building. He walked into the back of the shops entrance and could hear people talking. 

Ascot's face instantly became alert when he heard the sound of the explosion - terrorist acts in [i]Japan[/i] now, or just corporate espionage? Nevertheless, the boy used magic to appear on two different locations at once (Timespace, Life, Mentalism), in order to see what happened - phew, it seemed as though the explosion was contained. At the same time, however, his original self was still at the shop's entance, assessing the new man.

The shopowner, meanwhile, spoke:

"Ah, Jonathan-san! You've finally arrived!" This instantly alerted Ascot, who was taking note of the burn marks on the person's clothing, as well as the fact that a few strands were still flaming - it would have been funny, if not for the grim-faced nature of the person. So, after a dozen shops and two dozen wild rumors, the two have finally met. With a thought, the boy dispelled his 'other self', the one close to the explosion.

“Brother, I thought I told you to stop calling me San its strange to hear.” He said as he looked around the room, only then did he realize he was on fire. He quickly pat the flames and walked through the room, eyes like a hawk on the new people. 
 
“Besides we have customers.” He noted as he walked in the back.

"So, do deliveries usually end up like this all the time?" The boy said, using a very large vocabulary, and an adult-like tone, one that was so deep-rooted as to seem natural. There was a...presence to him and his body language, as well as, well, a slight discomfort with social interactions. It was clear that this was a child that didn't have much time with other children, and had been kept around adults for a long time, perhaps to his detirement.

“Yes we have customers looking for the things you’re working on.” Shikino the shop keeper informed Jonathan. 
 
“Well, that sounds pretty damn convenient.” He assumed they were here for him.

“Who do you work for? People don’t walk around with goons and speak like you do, unless something happened that linked them to someone… An organization perhaps?” He theorized. 
 
“Ma nuke! You Dumbass! Just sell them something!” Shikino scolded Jonathan who visibly ducked as if expecting to be hit. 

"Sorry, Sorry." He apologized as he pulled out some things. A few devices that looked like something that someone would use for VR. 
He began showing them off after setting aside the box.

Ascot looked as though he were shown a box of candy, examining one of the helmets and assesing its weight, comfortability, and how it easily covered one's eyes without putting weight on the nose - there was plenty of time to examine the more practical aspects of the device.

“These are basic and somewhat old models. Well, they are the newest in the market but I have been refining the process of shrinking the internal chips. That process is a bit of a secret.” He said as he glanced over to the box. 

"It's all right," spoke Ascot, while the two MPC members shot both him and Jonathan a dark look, perhaps as a result of them being called goons and Ascot allowing that impression to form. "Anyway, I'm searching for an educational program, something that helps people learn better, as well as stimulates various real-world situations with astonishing realism, while at the same time having safeguards against, well, the possibility that a person might die in real life as a result of dying in the game world."

This was all too close a shave for him, he felt off and felt as if he could see a flickering coming from within the child’s shadow. Something dark but he shrugged it off knowing that everyone carried around darkness.

“You know an offal lot about my work. Whoever sent you must know me. Do you have a name? I could probably offer a discount.” He lied but it wasn’t obvious.

“As for your friends you can tell them to stop looking at me like they want a piece. Else I will remove them and they won’t like how.” He warned them, eyes looking like that of death. 

"All right, all right," replied the boy, "but you started it by calling them 'goons', anyway. Also, my name's Ascot Harper - Magical Peace Corps troop leader. We're with the ship that just docked here some days ago. And, well, yeah, we've been seeking you." He then placed his hands behind his head casually. "Happy to meet you, Jonathan - I mean it." The child then gave a big smile.

"And, before you start asking, we really are with the MPC," the boy then pulled out a badge from his pocket, a badge made from the same unknown Magical Material that most credits were made from, with the image of the Phoenix, rising from the ashes.

He grunted as he listened to the boy, Ascot. 

“Shikino could you go into the other room?” He asked his brother, who bowed and then entered said other room.

“Am I to assume you’re here to arrest me for my past?” He asked thinking about that building he just blew up.

Ascot sighed.

"On the one hand, you're a mass muderer," the two MPC members, a man and a woman, glared at Jonathan at that. "On the other hand, arresting you would be a waste of time, effort, and finally, talent. That, and the MPC isn't in the business of arresting people - The Agency and Interpol are the ones who do that. There's also the fact that a lot of the people you eliminated were...inconvinient for US Interests."

"Anyway, point is, you've been tried remotely, and, well, you've been sentenced to...community service, community service being helping us rebuild the US' prime ally in the Far East and helping block the resurgence of the Chinese Democratic Republic. I, well, had to have my uncle and his successor pull a lot of strings to do that, but, well..." He smiled again, "I wanted to give you a second chance, personally."

"Oh, gods," spoke the MPC woman, "this was not what I signed for when I joined the Corps. Dang ArcU." ArcU was widely blamed for the 'militarization' of both the Regular and the Magical Peace Corps, as well as various other 'humanitarian' organizations, due to their widespread targeting of said humanitarian orgs to conduct human sacrifices and vile experiments with. Some people remarked that this showed that human nature sucked, sucks, and always sucks, even with hunger, want, and disease being eradicated. Nevertheless, the MPC was still Technically Pacifistic, and that was all that mattered.

"You don't believe in second chances, Leslie?" Ascot questioned.

"I don't believe in [i]twisting the law[/i]," the woman responded back. "Gods, if not for the fact that you still believe in not killing, I would have ditched you long ago."

“Yes, I’m sure that we all have killed in rage.” He said looking around the room. “But as you stated I have more experience in it.” Once again he looked at the two glaring at him. His hand began to twitch as he gently rested it on his hip. It was as if he was resting it on top of a sword hilt but there wasn’t one. After hearing about the US and other areas he started laughing, a long winded laugh. He started laughing even louder and harder when the woman spoke.

“Worry not I don’t kill for no reason and it takes a lot for me to strike a woman.” He said smiling at her.
 
“The US is dead to me, why do you think I came to Japan?” He asked looking at everyone. 

“I’m not going to even try to regain their trust. Although I would be willing to join someone if the pay was enough. We have been trying to make an organization that supplies everyone around the world. But only have a few locations around the world.” He said looking at the box.
 
“This was something that was going to be made into a weapon by some old “Evil” Organization.” He said patting the box. “We will use it to make something great, not a weapon.” He smiled as he looked around the room. The tension from him was gone and replaced with a strange feeling. The feeling like you wanted to trust and like this guy, it was strange considering what he had said earlier. 

Ascot winced a bit at Jonathan's remark about the US, but then smiled, again.

"Considering that you're rich already, your defention of 'enough pay' might be different from mine," the adult vocabulary was falling from the boy's lips as though it was natural. "Nevertheless, GuttierezCorp, the main funder of the MPC, is willing to pay a million credits for your services, as well as, of course, the [i]Alfred Nobel's[/i] Magitech Workshops. And, of course," he joked, "you'll have my company, and who doesn't want that?"

"Gods, Ascot," spoke Leslie, "you're much better off in the military - you have the charisma for it and the lack of scruples." The man with her didn't reply; he was being stoic.

Jonathan enhanced his legs with blood magic and moved in front of the stoic man, in a blur. “Is this one going to be around as well?” He asked pointing to the man with his thumb. 
 
“Because he is so lively, I would love a pet like him. I actually had a pet rock once.” He joked as he looked back at the stoic man. Jonathan used his life magic to keep his Blood magic in check. Then and only then would a small amount of his power be revealed. 

The Stoic man rolled his eyes, and finally spoke, in a weary tone:

"Look, are you going to be with us, or not? I don't have Ascot's charisma, or Leslie's, well, sense of morality, so I just listen. A lot. I'm just here for the sights and sounds of Akihabara. Oh, and my name is Ibrahim. Ibrahim Khan." Ibrahim Khan was someone who joined after the ArcU War in Africa, and so held no illusions or nostalgia about and for what the MPC had become now. That, and, well, the fact was that his life had been saved by the MPC in his youth in Bangladesh, and he still had a scintilla of gratitude for that.

“Khan? I think I will make you my underling. You said one million?” He questioned Ascot as he walked over to the boy. “As long as you are my little brother.” He joked with a smile, he knew that with the funds from MPC he could get Twilight Fade into action. He held his hand out to Ascot, to Jonathan this was their contract. 

Ascot grasped his hand with his usual smile, and spoke two words:

"Thank You."

End of Flashback